PATIENTS NOT PASSPORTS: Migrants Access to Healthcare During the Coronavirus Crisis | June 2020 burdensome forms over the phone, and the process has now been moved online, presenting issues for those digitally excluded. There are also further delays between applying and receiving the certificate. As a result, some are going without the funds to pay for medication, meaning that they do not collect medication they require because they cannot afford it. The HC1 forms are very difficult for people to fill in if they have limited English - we normally provide face to face support with these but have to try to help over the phone at the moment.” Lack of HC2 certificates and no funds to pay for medication. A HC1 form can be filled in online but most asylum seekers don’t have WiFi or understand the questions.” 3.3 Accommodation and proximity to care services The precarious living situation migrants face while in the process of acquiring their immigration status creates additional barriers to accessing healthcare, many of which have been exacerbated during the crisis. They experience higher instances of homelessness, ‘sofa-surfing’, and frequent moving between accommodation, often due to Home Office dispersal, provision of accommodation, and problems caused by the Right to Rent policy. This complicates access to healthcare, as many face difficulties providing the proof of address often asked for when registering to use health services, and many are forced to move away from the services where they had been receiving treatment. Migrant support services often circumvent these problems by using the organisation’s address on forms to ensure that migrants can more easily access prescriptions and receive letters. However, with lockdown, a lack of access to their physical premises makes this difficult. One respondent reports that “One of [their] clients went without HIV meds for two weeks as [their] clinic was cancelled and meds were sent for her to our office, which then closed so she couldn’t access them. She did not want to contact the clinic because she didn’t want to be a nuisance”. Some migrants are in lockdown in areas where they don’t normally live. If their GP surgery has remained open during the lockdown, this prevents them from presenting physically at the surgery. Clients not being able to present physically to GP or dentist surgeries where they are not currently registered. Particularly where clients have gone to stay with friends during lockdown and then not been able to access the closest GPs.” Some of the coronavirus response measures have further exacerbated these problems. For example, migrants who have been newly housed as part of the government programme to provide accommodation for all homeless people have now been left isolated. Refused homeless asylum seekers have been moved away from their surgery if they have been housed by Local Authority [during Covid-19].” One respondent reports working with an asylum seeker and victim of torture, who was rehoused in a hotel in Reading during coronavirus, far from his previous accommodation in South London and the GP from whom he had been receiving medication. His medication was dispensed at a pharmacy near his former address, by which time he had been relocated to the hotel. The pharmacy was 25